The System was quiet for two days. Too quiet.
No pings. No dungeon prompts. No glitchy countdowns or taunting whispers. Just the memory of a fading glow — the Echo Core resting cold in my bag like a bomb waiting for a name.
I didn't tell Arlen. Not yet. He was starting to look at me the way people look at cracked glass — afraid to tap too hard in case it shatters. I didn't need more of that. Not from him.
We stayed holed up in the cheap apartment the Guild gave me after the mission. Technically, it was a "recovery rest period," but really, they were watching me. I'd felt it. Footsteps outside the door at odd hours. The hallway mirror moved slightly once when no one had touched it. The kind of surveillance that whispers: We're not sure you came back alone.
They weren't wrong.
Day Three
I woke up drenched in sweat.
There was something in the room. I felt it before I opened my eyes — cold, like the absence of breath. Not a monster. Not quite.
I opened one eye.
The shape standing by the wall looked like... a man. Shadow-thin, arms too long, head tilted as if listening. No light touched him — not the moonlight, not the streetlamps.
Then he bent his neck in a way that shouldn't have been possible.
Snap.
Gone.
No puff of air. No noise. Just gone.
The System pinged a second later.
[New Skill Unlocked: Passive – Echo Pulse Lv. 1]
Echoes manifest around emotionally significant locations.
Warning: Stability dependent on host control.
Great. So now I was leaking ghosts.
"You look like hell," Arlen said, handing me coffee.
"I dreamed about shadows again."
He didn't ask more. Maybe because we'd already had the "Are you okay?" talk twice this week. Or maybe because he saw the way I kept checking corners now.
He sat across from me, stirring too much sugar into his cup like always. "You think they're gonna send you back into a Gate soon?"
"They will." I sipped. "They're waiting to see if I explode first."
"Not funny."
I gave him a hollow smile. "Wasn't a joke."
The Job Comes
At noon, the call came.
Not from the Guild. From The System itself.
> [Gate Priority Request: Class-C Rift in Outskirts of Blackridge]
Solo clearance granted.
Team restriction lifted due to anomalous Echo interference.
Wait. Solo?
I blinked. Then the Guild call followed, ten seconds later. This time, an actual voice.
"Crispin David," said a dry, clipped woman. "We've received notice from internal Systems that you've been auto-cleared for Gate C-1172."
I raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know I was the one in charge of clearance."
"You're not," she said. "The System is. This is a unique override. HQ would like you to handle this gate... quietly."
Quietly meant no attention. No media. No backup. No other Hunters.
I turned toward Arlen, who was pretending not to listen but failing spectacularly.
"When do I leave?"
"Now."
The New Gate
It was in the dead part of the city — abandoned factories, half-finished buildings, a ghost town before I brought actual ghosts.
The Gate shimmered in the air like oil over fire. Blue and unstable. Pulsing, as if breathing.
[Gate 1172 Detected: Rift Type – Paradox Drift]
Warning: Entities inside may resist standard laws of time and death.
What the hell did that even mean?
"Looks like you got a fun one," Arlen said. "You sure you want me to wait out here?"
"No. I want you to go home."
He gave me a look. "You'll owe me drinks if you die in there."
I didn't say goodbye. I walked into the Gate before I lost the nerve.
Inside
Nothing.
Not a monster. Not a whisper. Just a white room stretching in every direction like I'd fallen into someone's bad dream of heaven.
And then the lights flickered.
[Echo Pulse Activating…]
Entity detected: Unnamed Shade
Origin: ???
Something stepped forward.
Tall. Thin. Familiar.
It was me.
But not me.
It wore my face. But older, worn down. Scarred. The eyes — black pits of shadow, but they bled exhaustion.
I raised my weapon. "You gonna make me kill myself today, System?"
The echo moved.
Not fast — not inhuman. Just sad. Like it didn't want to exist either.
Then it attacked.
The Fight
I dodged the first swing. Barely. The echo moved with perfect knowledge of my timing, my tells. Every strike I made, it countered before I finished it.
"This is bullshit," I grunted.
It kicked me across the white floor. My ribs screamed.
[Echo Pulse Leveling Up…]
Shadow Synchronization: 12%
Suggestion: Use the Echo Core.
I pulled it from my pack.
It pulsed.
The echo froze mid-step. Its head tilted. Then it knelt.
What.
It knelt.
> [Binding Process Initiated]
Bind Echo "Crispin_001"?
I hesitated.
And then said: "Yes."
The light exploded outward. My body seared with heat.
When the glow faded, the echo stood behind me — a shadow twin, perfectly still, waiting.
Breathing wasn't optional anymore. I dropped to one knee.
[Shadow Echo Bound: Crispin_001]
Command structure initiated.
I had just enslaved myself.
Back in the Real World
The Gate closed with a shimmer.
I staggered out.
Arlen was there, pacing.
"What the hell took you so—" he stopped. "Why are you bleeding from your ears?!"
I waved a hand. "Just a mild case of reality tearing me apart. I'm fine."
He didn't laugh. He never laughed when I joked like that. He just helped me into the car, quiet and tense.
That night, I didn't sleep.
The echo stood in the corner, still and silent.
Waiting.